Gary LINEKER el rey del Clasico

After winning the Golden Boot at the 1986 World
Cup in Mexico, Lineker was signed by Barcelona. Barcelona were being managed by
former Queens Park Rangers manager Terry Venables. His Golden Boot-winning
performance at the finals led to much anticipation of success at the Camp Nou,
and he did not disappoint, scoring 21 goals in 41 games during his first
season, but for all the very loyal fans of Barça they still remeber that day,
the 31/01/1987 when Lineker scored a hat-trick and becomes a Barça hero. At Camp
Nou stadium, Barça wins 3-2 over arch-rivals Réal Madrid and reasserts league
leadership. Reminiscing those goals, Lineker, aware that rivalry between Barça
and Madrid transcends sport and comes to political tensions between catalans
and spaniards, once declared: “If there had been a roof on the stadium, it
would have been blown off. The sound was unbelievable. This was no derby. I
knew that this was Catalonia against the rest of Spain and I was one more
soldier in the Catalan army”. Gary LINEKER scored two goals in the first five
minutes (2’ and 5’) and proofed that he is a perfect natural striker. Have a
look of this two goals, Lineker scored hundred like this :

But my favourite is his last one just at the beginning
of the second half. Gary anticiped perfectly the opponent’s big fail. Barça
leads 3-0 and won the game 3-2 (Valdano & Hogo Sanchez for Madrid on the
last minutes) but it was the Gary LINEKER's day.

Gary LINEKER was probably the best striker in
the world at this time and the penalty box was his kingdom. So I never
understood why Johan CRUYFF when he became Barça’s manager in 1988 put Lineker
on the wing ??!! For me it was the biggest mistake of Cruyff in his career
manager.